We missed the Vatican tour!
Can you believe it after waiting so long in line we missed it by minutes.
Standing looking lost, and in serious need of a guide book. Vatican City, home of the Pope although which one at the time I can’t remember.
Even though my Mum is a declared Atheist she taught me to respect the religious beliefs of others. I didn’t expect to feel any connection to a higher power here at the vatican, I was totally signed on for the art within the Vatican Museum.
Of all the many people I have met in my years of travel this tiny Nun at the Vatican is most vivid. She took pity on us for some unknown reason. The three of us, my parents and I were hovering just inside the entrance wondering if we should race to try to catch up with the tour group.
Decision made she took us gracefully in hand, gathered us up like lost sheep and set out to show us her home.
I have never met before or since that day someone that just glows with the belief in their God.
She was very old, bird like with a heavy Italian accent, tiny like a child and glowing! It was like she was lit up from the inside, I hardly remember a word she said, just the feeling of being in her presence. Her cool hand when she took mine in front of Michelangelo’s Pieta, and the feeling of immense loss when she kissed our cheeks and departed to what ever it is that Nuns normally do in the Vatican .
I only have to say the word Vatican to my atheist Mum, even now twenty something years later and she starts talking of this tiny Nun and how incredible she was. I am still an agnostic, still believe in spirit but not the church, yet this tiny woman convinced me of the power of love and that she had been touched by something beyond my understanding.
Some places have the power to make even the most die-hard agnostic reconsider their position. Have you ever been in a place where you felt more alive or more connected to nature, the universe, or a higher power than anywhere else?
